Revenue-stamp destroyer.



No. $68,0l4. Patented Feb. l2, I90l. L. H. MONROE & A. G. BRENCKLE.

REVENUE, STAMP DESTBOYEB.

(Application filed Apr. 2 1900.) (No Model.)

mans co, PuoToumo. WASPHNGTGN, u. c.

LOWES H. MONROE AND ARTHUR C. BRENCKLE. OF MILYVAUKEE,

WISCONMN; SAID MONROE ASSIGNOR TO SAID BRENCKLE.

REVENUE STAM P IDESTOVIER.

SPECIFICA'IIUIW forming part of Letters Patent No. 668,014, dated February 12, 1901.

Application filed April 2,1900. Serial No. 11,095. (No model.)

To (LZZ 7077 0772 2125 727,107 concern.-

Ee it known that we, LOWES H. MONROE and ARTHUR C. BnnNcKLE, citizens of the Jnited States, and residents of Milwaukee, in the county of llllilwaukee and State of \Viscousin, have invented certain new and useful lin proveinents in Eleven Lie-Stamp Destroyers; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

Our invention has especial reference to the destruction of the internal-revenue stamps upon cigar-boxes after the removal of the contents thereof, as required bylaw; and it consists in ready and convenient means for that purpose, as will be fully set forth hereinafter in connection with the accompanying drawings and subsequently claimed.

In the said drawings, Figu re 1 is a perspective view of a portion of the end of a cigarbox, showing one form of our invention applied thereto in connection with the usual internal-revenue stamp; and Fig. 2 is a detail plan view of part of a cigar-box similarly equipped with another form of our said invention, parts being broken away in both figures to better illustrate certain details of construction.

The internatrevenue laws of the United States very explicitly provide that no person is to remove the contents of a box of cigars without destroying the revenue-stamp,which, as is well known, consists of a strip of paper having imprinted thereon the denomination or number of cigars for which it is issued, with various other inscriptions and designs, and which when a box has been filled with cigars must be pasted around said box adjacent to one end thereof and canceled before the said goods can be legally put upon the market. This stamp extends from the back of the box across the entire cover and down over the front and usually under the bottom of the box also, so that the box cannot be opened without breaking the stamp in two; but this does not legally destroy the stamp, which can only be done by the actual removal of a substantial part thereof, and as the stamp is tightly cemented to the box this is a matter of considerable effort and labor, to obviate which and render the destructive removal of the required portion of said stamp easy and convenient is the object of our present invention.

Referring to the drawings, A represents a portion of one end of a cigar-box, B the cover, and O the front of said box, all of ordinary construction. Such boxes are preferably bordered with strips of paper caller e( ging, that employed to cover one end of said cover being represented at b, the edging for the front edge of the cover being marked 0, and the other edging being shown in the drawings properly applied to the portions of the cigar-box therein illustrated, but not marked with any refereuceletters.

D represents our stamp-destroyer, which consists of a strip or piece of paper and which may be formed integrally with the coveredging Z), as shown in Fig. 1, or be made originally of a separate piece of paper permanently secured to said edging b, as indicated in Fig. 2. The under side of the edging proper is securely pasted to the box; but the under side of the destroyer D should be free from adhesive substance, so that only the end of the part D next the edging I) should be secured to the box when the said edging has been pasted or otherwise adhesively secured thereto, this end of the destroyer being in the one case an intregal part of the edging Z) and in the other case secured by the paste on the under side of the edging, so as to be a permanent part thereof.

E represents the internalrevenue stamp hereinbefore referred to, which is provided with adhesive material on its under side, whereby it is securely fastened around the cigar-box, the outer edge of said stamp covering and being adhesively attached to the inner edge of the edging b, as well as the adjacent surface of the wood of the cover B, and in the present illustration being also firmly pasted to the upper surface of the strip or piece of paper D, the extreme end of which projects slightly beyond the adjacent edge of the stamp E, as plainly shown in the drawings.

The operation of our invention will be readily understood from the foregoing description of its construction taken in connection with the accompanying drawings. When the contents have been fully removed from the box, then in order to comply with the law and destroy the stamp it is only necessary to take hold of the described projecting end of the part D and give a quick pull, when the same will be torn from the box, carrying with it a substantial portion of the revenue-stamp, whose under surface, as already described, is adhesively secured to the upper surface of the said part D.

It is probably true that very many technical violations of the law result from carelessness or forgetfulness. It now requires the use of a sharp instrument and some little time and labor to destroy a substantial portion of the revenue-stamp on cigar-boxes and the like, owing to the fact that the stamp ad heres tightly and has no projecting free edges; but with our invention there certainly can be no excuse for a failure to strictly com ply with the law, as no extraneous implement or tool of any description is required, and at the same time the projection of the part D beyond the edge of the stamp is so slight that it will not result in accidental premature destruction of the stamp, although said projection is sufficient to receive a finger-nail of the user and afford the necessary space for the grip of the end of the part D between the finger and thumb in the described operation we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A strip of edging of flexible material having a laterally-projecting portion of like material permanently attached thereto, and said projecting portion being of greater length than the width of a revenue-stamp in combination with a revenue-stamp adhesively secured to the upper surface of said projecting portion of the edging, at a point within the free edge of the latter.

2. In a device for destroying revenue-stain ps, the combination with a box of a strip of edging adhesively secured to one end thereof, said edging having a projecting portion forming a permanent part thereof, but said projecting portion of the edging being free from adherence to said box, and a revenue-stain. p adhesively secured to said box and to the upper surface of said projecting portion of said edging.

3. In a device fordestroyingrevenue-stamps, the combination with a box of a strip of edging adhesively secu red to one end thereof, said edginghaving a projecting portion forming a permanent partthereof, but said projecting portion of the edging being free from adherence to said box, and a revenue-stamp adhesively attached to the upper surface of the inner edge of said edging, and to the upper surface of said projecting portion, as well as as to the adjacent surface of said box, but not entirely covering the free end of the projecting portion of said edging.

In testimony that we claim the foregoing We have hereunto set our hands, at Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin, in the presence of two witnesses.

LOl VES H. MONROE. ARTHUR O. BRENCKLE. Witnesses:

H. G. UNDERWOOD, I

N. E. OLIPHANT. 

